Tag Archives: Ikebukuro

Ikebukuro in Tokyo is known for being another centre for otaku goodness. However, something else it’s also known for is hosting the kickass Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival 2017 in the near future. Hosted by Niconico, a Japanese based video social sharing site, the Ikebukuro East Entrance area of the JR station will undergo a stunning transformation from 29th to 30th October 2017 (Saturday and Sunday).

This is an event that takes place each year attracting cosplayers decked out in the best Halloween cosplay. There will also be events and activities to engage the participants and really make it a fun event. The best part of the event is that it takes place all over Ikebukuro, it isn’t dedicated to just one street or area of the town.

The annual event has been happening since 2014 and it’s growing in popularity as year passes. Now entering it’s 4th year, organisers are expecting up to 10,000 cosplayers taking part. The event is also streamed online and in the past has attracted 240,000 online viewers on Niconico Live Streaming. Anyone can take part as there’s an open invitation and there’s zero cost involved. The main part of the event will be taking place on the familiar Otome Road and will also encompass the nearby Minami Ikebukuro Park, no doubt there will be many cosplay photoshoots going down.

If you can’t be there in person, don’t sweat because as previously mentioned, the event will be live telecast on Niconico. Here’s the streaming schedule below:

Today was a fun day starting the morning with some really beautiful kitties at Cat Cafe Monta before heading to Ikebukuro to check out massive shopping centre, Sunshine City in search of the Pokemon Centre Mega Tokyo, J-World Tokyo and more cool stuff!

We already know that Akihabara is Ground Zero for all things otaku, right?

Well, now there’s a new store opening up from a very popular chain. Animate has its main store in Ikebukuro, seen as a more female friendly part of Tokyo, catering for the female otaku. But they now have a new store opening up in Akihabara as of June 2016. The new store boasts 7 floors of oatku goodness and is also known as “AKIBA Girls Station”. What separates this store from the others in Akihabara, which tends to be more male-centric, is that the anime/manga are going to be geared more towards their female audience, much like in Ikebukuro. It’s also conveniently located very close to the JR Akihabara station, only about 5 minutes away.

From the land that brought you the black squid ink burger comes something just as cool and different. Spotted on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line recently was a cat minding his own business and travelling on the trains like an ordinary commuter.

Here are some quotes from passengers who have been travelling with this feline.

“Looks like this cat is on his way home after a day of hanging out in ikebukuro.”

Take a breath before you see this because it might be one of the most kawaii things you will ever see. There’s a new Pokemon Centre opening in Sunshine City Ikebukuro and to mark the occasion, they’re releasing a range of plushies and other merchandise with Pikachu dressed up in a Mega Charizard hoodie. The store will be carrying the Pikachu/Mega Charizard as a mascot.

Keyring charm A

plushie A

Keyring charm B

Mega Charizard poncho

plushie B

shopping bags

limited edition Pokemon TCG Promo trading card

Pokemon cookies

Tumbler A

Tumbler B

Mega Evolve bracelet

The store opens up on December 12 while the special Pokemon card seen above will be given away until January 15th, 2015.

The annual Golden Week holidays have just finished in Japan, occurring between May 3 – 6 and this year, there was an extra special event. The area in Japan known as Ikebukuro hosted a Madoka Magica event which turned out to be very popular.

The event featured life sized figures of the girls, cafe style drinks and special appearance by the voice actors Emiri Kato, Ai Nonaka, Aoi Yuuki and Kaori Mizuhashi. Prior to the event, attendees were warned to expect waits of up 90 minutes and then some, so bringing your own water to the event was essential.

If you happen to be in Osaka in the coming week, you can catch the event there from May 17 – 18.

Launching this coming for the Summer in Japan will be an amusement park of epic proportions. An amusement park from Shonen Jump is in the works at an indoor venue located at J-World Tokyo. It will occupy of floor space and will be based in the Sunshine City World Import Mart in Ikebukuro on the 3rd floor.

The park will open on July the 11th and will showcase such classics as Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, Toriko, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, Kochikame and Gintama. We don’t have real photos of the park as yet, only concept art which you can see below. There’s a video of the area surrounding the amusement park fort the curious.

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Admission prices to the park will be set at ¥1,300 for adults while children will be charged ¥1000. The park opens at 10AM and closes at 10PM.